How safe is mouldy food to eat?

bbc 14
British families throw away about seven million tonnes of food and drink every y
ear, enough to fill Wembley stadium to the brim. Most of it is beyond its sell-b
y date, but how much could be safely eaten, asks Michael Mosley.
I've agreed to feast on a range of foods that have gone beyond their prime, guid
ed by mould expert, Dr Patrick Hickey.
I realise it is going to be an unusual lunch when Hickey passes me a disposable
contamination suit to wear. Before tucking in he also warns me that we will not
be eating any foods that have passed their "use by" date. To do so would risk se
rious food poisoning.
With "best before" or "sell by" things are more flexible.
Our first course was some ageing cheddar. As he cuts away the mouldy part (being
careful that the knife doesn't get contaminated by mould) he assures me the res
t is safe to eat. Cheddar and parmesan are dry cheeses and because mould needs m
oisture to thrive, it doesn't normally penetrate far below the surface.
Some cheeses, of course, are deliberately infected with fungi. Penicillium roque
forti gives blue cheeses such as stilton and roquefort their flavour.
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Michael Mosley
You can watch Trust Me, I'm a Doctor, with Michael Mosley and others, on iPlayer
With most soft cheeses, however, unless the fungus has been deliberately introdu
ced, the presence of mould suggests infection not just by unwelcome fungi but al
so harmful bacteria, such as listeria or salmonella. If that happens, throw it a
way.
Next, he pulls out some bread covered in small bits of white-and-blue mould. He
assures me that it will be fine, toasted, once the mouldy crusts have been cut o
ff. "The moulds don't go deep," he says. "The time you really need to be worried
about bread is when it has black bits on it." I decide to pass.
Then he digs out some long-forgotten vegetables from the back of a fridge. The c
ourgettes and carrots are covered in a horrible slime, which Hickey tells me is
caused by bacterial colonies growing on the surface. Could I boil these up for s
oup?
"If you did," he says, "you'd probably develop terrible stomach ache in a couple
of hours, followed by stomach cramps and diarrhoea"
So best thrown out.
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Leftovers from the Magazine
"Sell-by Dec 1" written on side of food container
Five expired foods you can still eat (September 2013)
Should you smell food before throwing it away? (January 2013)
The restaurant that serves up rejected food (December 2013)
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Fruit normally lasts better than vegetables because the acid in fruit keeps harm
ful bacteria at bay. The moulds you find on jam, are fine - just scrape them off
. There is, however, one fruit to be wary of.

"Apples," he tells me, "will keep for ages, but if there's a puncture in the ski
n, fungi can get in. There have been serious outbreaks in the past, incidents of
people being poisoned by drinking bad apple juice, which contains a toxin calle
d patulin."
Mouldy nuts are particularly dangerous because they harbour a fungus called Aspe
rgillus flavus.
Mouldy bread
This is probably too mouldy to be consumed, even toasted
"This fungus," says Hickey, "produces one of the most deadly toxins known to hum
ankind. The toxin accumulates in the liver and can cause liver cancer. If there'
s no mould on the shell and the internal part is sealed and protected, which the
se are, then we should be fine." He is right. We eat them. We survive.
Although most foods are best eaten fresh, some starchy foods, such as pasta, ric
e and potatoes, may actually be healthier when consumed as leftovers rather than
freshly cooked. Certainly better than tipping in the bin.
As I discovered in last week's episode of Trust Me I'm a Doctor, cooking starchy
foods and then cooling them down changes their structure, so they become more r
esistant to the enzymes in our gut that break carbohydrates down.
So if you eat cold pasta your body will absorb fewer calories, making this a die
ter's dream.
What's even more surprising is that if you take cold pasta and reheat it, then i
t becomes even more "resistant", producing a 50% lower rise in blood glucose tha
n fresh pasta.
Although we didn't test it, the same probably happens when you cool and heat oth
er starchy foods like rice. You should never reheat cooked rice that has been le
ft hanging around at room temperature for any length of time, because it can har
bour toxins that will give you food poisoning. But if leftover rice goes straigh
t into the fridge after a meal it will be fine for a couple of days. I often use
leftover rice to make egg fried rice.
The same applies to potatoes. Cold leftover potatoes, sliced and then lightly fr
ied are a family favourite.
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Reducing food waste
Tupperware boxes in fridge
According to Wrap (Waste & Resources Action Programme) we throw away 24 million
slices of bread, 1.5 million tomatoes and 1.4 million bananas every day. These a
re a few suggestions as to what you can do to reduce this waste:
When you buy a large loaf of sliced bread, put half in the freezer. It will keep
far longer and make good toast. It should also be a more "resistant" form of st
arch.
Soft tomatoes can be cooked or turned into salsa. Here is one recipe which uses
up both soft tomatoes and stale bread.
Overripe bananas can be used to make banana bread. The browner the better!